Posted on 02/21/2024 9:13:35 PM PST by ConservativeMind
Dick Bramer, 76, likes to watch birds. But for two years he couldn't see them well enough to identify the various species.
Bramer suffered what doctors diagnosed as an ocular stroke (they said a small particle of plaque must have blocked blood flow to the optic nerve) in one eye.
A friend happened to tell about Low Vision Restoration in Blaine, Minnesota. Optometrist Chris Palmer prescribes devices that can help improve people's vision when other glasses can't. Palmer fitted Bramer with the devices, which are like miniature binoculars or telescopes affixed to regular glasses.
Bramer tried them out and suddenly saw his wife clearly for the first time since the stroke.
The devices, called bioptic telescopic glasses, can help patients resume reading, recognizing faces across a room, watching TV, playing cards, in some cases even driving, Palmer said. But for reasons nobody seems to be able to explain, few people have heard of them.
Palmer said eye doctors "aren't doing a great job" of referring patients who might benefit from them.
Telescopic glasses are "basically binoculars" that affix to glasses and magnify images so that objects look bigger, closer and clearer, said Palmer, who has specialized in this area since 2008. They resemble jewelers' loupes.
Bioptic telescopes are helpful for people with eye conditions—including macular degeneration, ocular albinism, Stargardt disease, glaucoma, diabetic retinopathy and rod cone dystrophy—that can reduce vision to levels too low to benefit from regular glasses and contacts.
The devices won't help everybody with eye problems, Peterson noted, "but in many cases people can regain some level of independence, reading, the ability to perform tasks around the home," he said.
Another reason they're not more widely used is that they're expensive and generally not covered by insurance, Palmer said.
(Excerpt) Read more at medicalxpress.com ...
One eye didn’t get me back to 20-20 after cataract surgery. The implanted, extra-cost, lens causes a double vision effect on distant overhead objects. (Like birds).
With corrective lenses I could see a regular Cessna 180 overhead on amphibious floats. After CS, I can’t even see if the plane has floats!
I’ll ask at my next checkup if this new device will help.
That’s terrible. Is that the case for both eyes? You hear so few negative stories from CS.
The surgeon, with an office in Vero Beach, wouldn’t operate on my request to have both eyes “corrected”. A follow-up ophthalmic opinion was that “there’s no going back”.
So I still have decent—but only—close-up vision in my other eye.
For those really have trouble keeping the hot ladies away.
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